Vacay and Teachers

Tom and I took a quick vacay to Arizona last week. One of his best friends got married down there and Tom was in the wedding. It was a lot of work leaving the kiddos behind, and a lot of work that our moms endured for us too. We decided it would be best to split up the three boys - the two older together and Leo on his own. Three is just a lot for 5 days, especially when you have preschool and a baby thrown in the mix. Everything went great. No one got sick or hurt. The weather cooperated. Bailey was put in a kennel. All was peaceful. I don't think I really started to relax until sometime on Thursday. I enjoyed the quiet and the uninterrupted sleep. And the meals out with no kids. And the adult interaction. But then Friday morning came and the news of the shooting got out. And my heart sank and I got a lump in my throat. And suddenly the only place I wanted to be was on my couch with my boys surrounding me.  I had to turn off the tv. I had to stop reading my news apps on my phone. I just couldn't go there. The few times I did really think about it, I started sobbing and I just couldn't do that. Not while I was away from my babies. My almost 5 year old. It breaks my heart. I can't help but see my children, or my friends children, in all of the victims pictures. What if. What if. Those poor, poor children. Those teachers. The parents. How are they going to recover from this? My heart is so heavy.

I love teachers, I mean I almost became one :-) But I love teachers even more now. Teachers love our children, they really do. Unless of course your kid is that kid. ha, just kidding. Teachers are so important in our children's lives. Think about it. I bet you can name every single one of your teachers - at least all the way up to jr high school when you started to have way too many. But even at that - I bet you could still name a handful of high school ones. We remember the ones we loved, the ones we didn't love so much. But they impacted us in so many wonderful, wonderful ways. Teachers, good and bad, love our children and impact our children's lives. And sometimes, as proven on Friday, they even save our children's lives.

Back to my intention of this post - our vacation....I took all of 3 pictures on this trip. HA! Pathetic. And not one of them is of me and Tom. I tried really hard to have my phone away the majority of the vacation. And I didn't even bring my nice camera with me. Tom got in a few rounds of golf. I enjoyed the spa one morning. And it was just a really great time hanging out with old friends who we don't get to see that much, especially sans children! But needless to say, I was ready to get home and see the kiddos. Jack gave me the biggest hug ever when we got home and I just missed him so much. And Finn, although he was too into the iPad when we walked through the door to even look at us, when I made my way over to him - he said MOMMY! MOMMY! I missed you so much!

It's great to get away. It was a much needed vacation for us. But it's so nice to be back and to get to hug my boys.

Tomorrow starts the Christmas festivities with Jack's preschool christmas program. He will have another one on Thursday with the younger kids and then let the Christmas gift giving begin! I'll try to take some video of the songs tomorrow. Should definitely be interesting.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Hooray for snow! The boys are having so much fun in the snow this year. Last year I think we went outside once when there was maybe an inch or two on the ground and that's it! Actually this morning, they were outside by themselves once Leo woke up. Not too shabby! Jack's preschool got cancelled this morning, which was good and bad :-)

We celebrated one Christmas this past weekend. And wouldn't you know it, Tom ended up in the ER with Jack. He fell off a slide and hit his head on the corner of a shelf. The wound was pretty deep, we weren't certain he would need stitches, but we thought better safe than sorry. So Tom and his dad went to the closest hospital ER and luckily it wasn't crazy busy or anything. They were able to come back and have some ice cream before everyone started to head home. Jack was a trooper and just ended up needing one stitch.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

I'd like to title these next three pictures : THE DREADED AGE OF THREE

For the record, Finn wore this outfit of Leo's when he was 12 months. Leo is 5 months. 

Fishing for gifts

He's such a good oldest cousin

All of the Starkey MN great grandkids -8 kids under 5

haha

Starting him early

Leo at 5 Months

December 2, 2012 - 5 Months

Thank goodness for iPhones. I haven't had my nice camera out in FOREVER. Poor Leo is getting shafted. 

At 5 months Leo is still in size 3 diapers. His 6 month clothes are getting tight! He's eating about 7 oz every 4 hours. He has baby food once or twice a day and LOVES it! He still wakes up sometimes at night for his nuk and usually wants to have another bottle between 4-6 AM. I definitely don't remember feeding Jack or Finn this early of a bottle, but we've been putting Leo to bed earlier than we did with them so that's probably why. Leo has major napping issues. He HATES napping in his crib or the pack n play. But he'll nap in my arms no problem. Yeah, sorry buddy that just isn't going to happen. The other day I had so much to do and he hadn't slept all day long. Both Jack and Finn were napping, so I put Leo in the pack n play downstairs. He literally cried for over an hour. Obviously I was going and checking on him, trying to calm him down, giving him his nuk, rocking him, etc. And he'd doze off and the second I'd set him back down, he'd scream. Ugh, it's so frustrating. I think he's teething too (when aren't they teething their first few years of life...seriously). 

He continues to be the happiest baby in the world, despite his sleeping issues. I mean honestly, the day when he didn't sleep one wink all day, he was all smiles when being held or talked to. Seriously, he hates being left alone. He needs to be front and center on all of the action. But in all honestly, the kid is never fussy unless he is tired, over tired or hungry. He might wimpier and whine because he misses his brothers up in his face 24/7, but the kid doesn't fuss. ever. The other night when we were purging some of our toys, Tom was like we should just get rid of all the baby toys. Leo isn't going to need any toys because he has his brothers to keep him occupied. It's true, but I'm still not willing to part with the baby entertainment stuff. Can I just also complain about how much room the baby stuff takes up!?! ahhhhhhh. I'm going to have a party when we give away all of this stuff!

He loves his carseat and usually falls asleep in the car. He's a great companion to take shopping or whatnot, as long as he's been fed. He still isn't a huge fan of tummy time, which is quite annoying since he flips over to his stomach the second you put him on his back. We haven't really worked on the whole sitting up thing. I don't even remember when that happens. Probably in a few months? 

With the holidays approaching, and the boys birthday, and a wedding - we are staying quite busy! But it's fun and each year the holiday season seems to get more and more exciting as parents.

I'm excited that tomorrow is Friday!

Video

I can't believe I never put this video on the blog. I made this when Leo was just one month old. It's pretty fun watching it. My favorite part is at about 2:18, seriously I tear up. I love my family.